System and method for redirecting content based on gestures

ABSTRACT

Content such as advertisements received into a mobile device may be more appropriately displayed on an alternative device remote from the mobile device. When ad content is received into the mobile device, the user may perform a physical gesture such as movement of the device or an associated motion sensor. The physical gesture is analyzed in the mobile device and causes the ad content to be redirected to the remote device. Additional physical gestures by the user can be interpreted in the mobile device to manipulate the content on the remote device.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This disclosure relates to the provision of content to mobile devicesand in particular to systems and methods for redirecting content.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mobile device capabilities have grown dramatically in modern times.There is now a vast variety of content that can be presented on mobiledevices, including web content. Part of this content may includeunsolicited or associated content such as ads, surveys, etc. A consumermay be interested in viewing/listening to one or more ads but thedetails of the image, background information, or audio on the product orservices may be inappropriate for display on the mobile device, forexample due to the device's capabilities such as screen resolution,audio quality, text size, etc.

What is required is an improved system and method for displaying contentbased on user commands and/or preferences.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Content such as advertisements received into a mobile device may be moreappropriately displayed on an alternative device remote from the mobiledevice. When ad content is received into the mobile device, the user mayperform a physical gesture such as movement of the device or anassociated motion sensor. The physical gesture is analyzed in the mobiledevice and causes the ad content to be redirected to the remote device.Additional physical gestures by the user can be interpreted in themobile device to manipulate the content on the remote device.

In one aspect of the disclosure, there may be provided a method forredirecting content received into a mobile device. When content isreceived into the mobile device, a user gesture may be detected by agesture recording device associated with the mobile device. The usergesture may be processed to determine a redirection instruction that canbe used to redirect the content to a remote device.

In one aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method formanipulating content such as advertisements on a mobile device. Whencontent is received into the mobile device, a first physical gesture maybe interpreted to redirect the content to a remote device and one ormore second physical gestures may be interpreted in the mobile device tomanipulate the content on the remote device.

In one aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a mobile deviceconfigured for communications with a data network and to receive contentfrom the data network. The mobile device may comprise at least onemotion sensor and an application executable on at least one processor ofthe mobile device. The application may be configured to detect a usergesture, determine a redirection preference from the user gesture, andredirect the content to at least one external device dependent on theredirection preference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made, by way of example only, to specificembodiments and to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a mobile communications system;

FIG. 2 depicts a process for redirecting content to a mobile device;

FIG. 3 depicts a mobile device configured to perform gesture-basedredirections;

FIG. 4 depicts a process for redirecting content; and

FIG. 5 depicts a process for recording gesture based preferences.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the Applicant's co-pending application Attorney Docket No.20080218.7, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein byreference, there is described a gesture based filtering system andmethod that can be used to filter the types of content a user mightprefer to see. The present disclosure is directed toward utilizingavailable (external) resources to improve the experience with thecontent.

In FIG. 1, there is shown a system 10 on which the gesture-preferencesbased methods may be implemented. The system 10 includes a contentserver 12, such as an ad server, that provides content through a network14 to users 19 at one or more mobile devices 16. Various content typesare contemplated including, without limitation, ad content, streamingvideo or audio, etc. The mobile device 16 may be a network enableddevice configured to receive the content, such as a mobile phone,smartphone or similarly web-enabled device. The mobile device 16 mayalso be tablet computer, netbook or similar mobile computing device. Themobile device is operated by a user 19 and may be associated with one ormore other external or remote devices 17 of the user 19. Examples of theexternal devices include, without limitation, television, home computer,portable computer, sound system, entertainment system, in storeprojector/display, and similar audio and video devices. The remotedevice(s) may communicate with the mobile device via suitable protocols,such as short range protocols, e.g. Bluetooth, infra-red protocols, etc.Alternatively, both the mobile device 16 and remote device(s) 17 may beconnected to a network so that the devices can communicate using IPprotocols or similar. Remote devices may include devices under controlof the user and/or devices under control of the content provider and/ordevices under the control of third parties, such as store owners. In oneembodiment, the remote displays may include one or more displays instores, airports, malls, etc. A vehicle may also provide alternativeresources to use. Also provided may be a gesture recording device 18.The gesture recording device 18 may be integrated with the mobile device16, such as an accelerometer or similar motion sensor. Alternatively orin addition, the motion sensor 18 may be a non-integrated device that islocally paired with the mobile device 18, e.g. via a short-rangecommunications protocol such as Bluetooth. Non-integrated motion sensorsmay include accelerometers, gyroscopes, or devices for measuring eyemovements.

Tracking of eye movement could occur using sensors in the glasses wornby a user while viewing information and communicated back to the mobiledevice. For example, a pair of sun glasses which can track eye movementcan communicate such movement to a mobile device using Bluetoothtechnology. When a user is presented content, the user's eye movementscould register the gesture to redirect content or the act of viewing anearby device could indicate redirection.

The content server 12 provides content to the mobile device 16 via thenetwork 14 in a known and conventional manner.

At times, the user may decide that content provided to the mobile device16, such as an ad, is best conveyed on a different type of remote device(e.g. display device or audio device) depending on the ad's messagemedium. As will be described in greater detail below, the mobile device16 may execute an application that enables a user 19 to provide agesture on the mobile device 16 or associated gesture sensor 18 toprovide a redirection of the ad content.

A process for redirecting the content is depicted in the flowchart 100of FIG. 2. At step 101, the content is received into the mobile device16 from the content server 12 via the network 14. The content may bepresented, wholly or in part, to the user 19 to enable the user toindicate a gesture with the gesture device 18 (step 102). A detectedgesture is processed to determine a redirection instruction associatedwith the user gesture (step 103), thereby enabling the content to beredirected in accordance with the redirection instruction (step 104).

In one embodiment, the gesture may be used to redirect the immediatecontent. For example, the user may receive the content on their mobiledevice and decide to “throw” it to another device. Alternatively or inaddition, the gesture may be used to set preferences on their mobiledevice as described in the Applicant's co-pending patent applicationAttorney Docket No. 20080218.7 referenced above, so that contentmatching the preference criteria are displayed/played on a remote deviceautomatically.

In one embodiment, the redirection request to transfer content to aremote device could also indicate to the originator of the content toshow a better quality version of the content based on the newcapabilities of the remote device vs. the mobile device. Once receivedon the remote device, the content can be manipulated from the mobiledevice to scroll forward or back, enlarge/reduce, increase volume, etc.through gestures on the mobile device.

The mobile device 16 is shown in more detail in FIG. 3. The mobiledevice 16 includes a receiving module 22 that initially receives thecontent from the content server 12.

The receiving module passes the content to a preference module 24. Thepreferences module 24 may also include a preferences datastore 26 thatstores content related preferences, as will be described in more detailbelow. Based on any set preferences for the received content, thepreferences module passes the content to a presentation module 28 thatpresents the content to the user 19, e.g. via a screen display of themobile device or by audio through the speakers of the mobile device 16.

When the content is presented, the user may invoke an application toprovide a gesture in relation to the content. When the user makes aphysical gesture, such as movement of the mobile device 16, the gestureis detected by a gesture recognition module 32 and passed to a gestureanalyzing module 34. The gesture may be interpreted as a redirectioninstruction. The redirection instruction is providing to a sendingmodule 29. The redirection instruction may be interpreted by the sendingmodule 29 to cause the sending module 29 to send the content to anexternal device 17. The content may be transmitted to the externaldevice by any suitable protocol, for example via short range protocolssuch as Bluetooth, WiFi, infrared, peer-to-peer protocols, etc.

In an alternative embodiment, the sending module may send theredirection instruction to the content server 12 so that the contentserver 12 performs the redirection of the content to the external device17.

An example of the process for redirecting the content is depicted in theflowchart 200 of FIG. 4. The mobile device 16 receives the content atstep 201 and passes the content to the preferences module 24. At step202, the preferences module 24 determines whether any existingpreferences are set for the content by parsing the content to determinethe content parameters and then using the content parameters as a lookupto the preferences datastore 26. If preferences have been set for thecontent, then a redirection instruction based on the preferences is sentto the sending module 29 (step 203). If no preferences are set, then thecontent is passed to the presentation module 28 for presentation to theuser 204.

The user may invoke a gesture recording process in respect of thecontent. In the gesture recording process, the user performs a gesture,such as moving the mobile device, which is detected by the gesturerecognition module 32 (step 205). The gesture recognition module 32determines whether the gesture is a valid gesture (determination 206).If the gesture is invalid, the user is informed 207 and the process mayreturn to step 205. Otherwise, if the gesture is valid, the gestureanalyzing module 34 determines whether the gesture relates to aredirection (step 208). If so, a redirection instruction is conveyedfrom the gesture analyzing module 34 to the sending module (step 209),which then redirects the content in accordance with the redirectioninstruction. If at step 208, the gesture is not correlated with aredirection instruction, then the gesture analyzing module determines ifthe gesture is correlated with a manipulation instruction (step 210). Ifso, then the gesture analyzing module conveys a manipulation instructionto the sending module 211. After sending of the redirection ormanipulation instructions (steps 209, 211), the process returns to step205 to await further gestures.

As described above, the preferences module 24 may be used to perform anypre-set filtering or manipulation of the content prior to presenting thecontent to the user. Content preferences may be stored in a preferencedatastore 26. The preference datastore 26 may be an integrated memory ofthe mobile device 16, as shown in FIG. 3. Alternatively, the preferencedatastore may be an off-device datastore accessed via the network 14(FIG. 1). The preference datastore 26 uses the content parameters as alookup to determine whether any preferences exist for those contentparameters. In one embodiment, content received into the mobile devicemay be automatically redirected to the remote device and/or formattedand/or manipulated based on a pre-set preference for the content withoutpresenting the content to the user on the mobile device.

The user may set preferences through an application interface. Theinterface may be menu and/or key driven. In one embodiment, preferencesmay be set by recording gestures. An example of a gesture-basedpreference recording process is depicted in the flowchart 300 of FIG. 5.When the user is presented with the content, the user may invoke thepreference recording process in order to record a gesture or preferencefor the content. After invoking the gesture process (step 301), the userperforms a gesture (step 302) which is detected by the gesturerecognition module 32. If the gesture is not valid (determination 303),the user is informed 304 and allowed to re-perform the gesture. If thegesture is valid, the gesture is passed to a gesture analyzing module 34which prompts the user to indicate whether the gesture indicates apreference or an action to perform on the content, for example whetherthe gesture indicates a redirection instruction.

The preference for the content is then stored in the preferencedatastore 26 (step 306) so that this preference may be applied tosubsequent content and then the process terminates 307.

The gesture recognition module 32 may be built into the mobile device16. The gesture is initiated by a command (either a button push or avocal command). In one embodiment, the gesture itself (after initiated)is a movement of the device that may be recorded by the gesturerecognition module 32. The gesture recognition module 32 may include amotion sensor, such as an accelerometer, digital compass, etc., as wellas processing circuitry for interpreting the output of the motion sensoras a gesture. A wide variety of simple and complex gestures arecontemplated. In one embodiment, gestures could include a slow shaking,rapid shaking, long movement (one direction), short movement, fastmovement, slow movement etc. More complex gestures could include that aleft to right horizontal movement toward a remote device while eitherholding down a button or preselecting the button could indicateredirection. While pointing at the remote device, a movement over aslope up and right could indicate resize/zoom the image. A clockwisecircular motion could indicate an increase in volume on the remotedevice, while a counterclockwise circular motion could indicate lowerthe volume. Other types of gestures and actions that could be associatedwith those gestures will be apparent to a person skilled in the art andall such gestures are intended to be encompassed herein.

The gesture recognition module 32 determines if a gesture has occurred.This includes detecting some motion and assigning properties to themotion or action. These properties may include direction, time, distanceand angle. Once the properties have been determined, the properties arepassed from the gesture recognition module 32 to the gesture analyzingmodule 34. The gesture analyzing module 34 takes a set of propertiesrelated to a gesture and determines if they correspond to a validgesture on record. E.g. the movement corresponds to a request to rewindcontent back XX seconds.

An initial configuration is required to associate gestures toactivities. Defaults are given, but the user can modify through aninterface on the mobile device. E.g. some gestures may be differentdepending on the user's hand preference (left handed vs. right handed).

In one embodiment, the motion sensor may be a separate device that islocally paired with the mobile device 16, e.g. via Bluetooth or somesimilar communication protocol, that enables the output of the motionsensor to be analyzed by the gesture analyzing module 34. In oneembodiment, the locally paired device may be a device for measuring eyemovements as described above. While a gesture can be the movement of themobile device, the gesture could also be the amount of time a user'seyes remain on the particular components of the content.

The gesture is communicated from the gesture recognition module 32 tothe gesture analyzing module 34. The gesture analyzing module 34receives the gesture and determines whether the gesture indicates aredirection instruction and/or a manipulation instruction.

Redirection preferences may include a remote device to redirect thecontent to. Additional redirection preferences may include formattinginstructions, such as a request to reformat the content for the displayof the content on the remote device. Additional formatting instructionsinclude color vs. black and white, color depth, resolution (720p,1080p), widescreen vs. 4:3 formatting, surround sound vs. 5.1 dolbydigital, 3D vs. 2D, font size and initial volume setting. The particularredirection that is performed may be based on the particular gesture.For example a first gesture may redirect the content to a first remotedevice while a second gesture may redirect the content to a differentdevice. In addition, formatting instructions to be included in theredirection instruction may also be gesture dependent. The gestureanalyzing module may have a datastore that correlates gestures withparticular redirection preferences or actions. Alternatively, thegesture analyzing module may communicate with the preferences module todetermine preferences that are associated with a particular gesture.

In addition to redirection instructions, the mobile device 16 and thegesture recording device 18 may be used to manipulate the redirectedcontent on the remote device 17. Content manipulation may include stop,pause, rewind, fast forward, volume up, volume down, zoom in/out, print(assuming a screen image is selected and a printer is available). Mostdigital display devices accept Infrared commands which can be sent froma mobile device or can accept commands through a USB/HDMI/Serial cablefrom the content server. If the display device is unable to provide thislevel of interaction, the content manipulation can occur directly on thecontent server and then be sent to the remote device.

The embodiments described above allow users of mobile devices to quicklyand easily redirect relevant information such as advertising from theirmobile device to more appropriate display devices based on simplegestures.

The components of the system 10 may be embodied in hardware, software,firmware or a combination of hardware, software and/or firmware. In ahardware embodiment, the gesture-based redirection application may beexecuted on a processor of the mobile device. The application may bestored as a set of executable instructions in a memory of the mobiledevice that is operatively associated with the processor.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated inthe accompanied drawings and described in the foregoing description, itwill be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodimentsdisclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications, andsubstitutions without departing from the spirit of the invention as setforth and defined by the following claims. For example, the capabilitiesof the invention can be performed fully and/or partially by one or moreof the blocks, modules, processors or memories. Also, these capabilitiesmay be performed in the current manner or in a distributed manner andon, or via, any device able to provide and/or receive information.Further, although depicted in a particular manner, various modules orblocks may be repositioned without departing from the scope of thecurrent invention. Still further, although depicted in a particularmanner, a greater or lesser number of modules and connections can beutilized with the present invention in order to accomplish the presentinvention, to provide additional known features to the presentinvention, and/or to make the present invention more efficient. Also,the information sent between various modules can be sent between themodules via at least one of a data network, the Internet, an InternetProtocol network, a wireless source, and a wired source and viaplurality of protocols.

1. A method for redirecting content received into a mobile device, themethod comprising: receiving the content into the mobile device from acontent server; detecting a user gesture with at least one gesturerecording device associated with the mobile device; processing the usergesture to determine a redirection instruction associated with the usergesture; and redirecting the content in accordance with the redirectioninstruction.
 2. The method of claim 1 comprising: processing theredirection instruction to determine an external device; and redirectingthe content to the external device.
 3. The method of claim 2 comprising:processing the redirection instruction to determine one or moreformatting parameters for the content; and presenting the content on theexternal device in accordance with the one or more formattingparameters.
 4. The method of claim 2 comprising: detecting at least onesecond user gesture with the at least one gesture recording device;processing the user gesture to determine a manipulation instructionassociated with the user gesture; and providing the manipulationinstruction to the external device to cause manipulation of the contenton the external device.
 5. The method of claim 1 comprising providingthe redirection instruction to the content server, the redirectioninstruction indicating to the content server an external device toredirect the content to.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein theredirection instruction comprises one more formatting preferences forpresenting the redirected content on the external device.
 7. The methodof claim 1 comprising: determining one or more content parameters of thecontent; associating the redirection instruction with the one or morecontent parameters; and storing the association in a gesture preferencedatastore.
 8. The method of claim 7 comprising: receiving second contentinto the mobile device; determining one or more second contentparameters of the second content; providing the one or more secondcontent parameters to the gesture preference datastore to retrieve oneor more redirection preferences in respect of the second content;redirecting the second content in accordance with the retrieved one ormore redirection preferences.
 9. The method of claim 1 whereinprocessing the user gesture comprises: providing the user gesture to aredirection preferences datastore; retrieving a redirection preferencefrom the datastore; applying the redirection preference to the content.10. The method of claim 1 comprising invoking a preference recordingapplication that enables a user to record a gesture-based preference.11. The method of claim 1 wherein the preference datastore comprises amemory of the mobile device.
 12. The method of claim 1 wherein recordinga user gesture comprises recording motion of the mobile device.
 13. Themethod of claim 1 wherein recording a user gesture comprises recordingmotion of a device locally paired with the mobile device.
 14. The methodof claim 13 wherein recording a user gesture comprises recording eyemovement of the user.
 15. The method of claim 1 comprising: detecting asecond gesture with the at least one gesture recording device;manipulating the content on the external device dependent on the secondgesture.
 16. A mobile device configured for communications with a datanetwork and to receive content from the data network, the mobile devicecomprising: at least one motion sensor; and an application executable onat least one processor of the mobile device, the application configuredto: present content to a user of the mobile device; detect a usergesture; and determine a redirection preference from the user gesture;redirect the content to at least one external device dependent on theredirection preference.
 17. The mobile device of claim 16 comprising amemory for storing a plurality of gesture-based preferences.
 18. Themobile device of claim 17 wherein the application is configured to:detect a second gesture; manipulate the content on the external devicebased on the second gesture.
 19. A method for manipulating ad content ona mobile device, the method comprising: receiving ad content into themobile device; detecting a first physical gesture with the mobiledevice; redirecting the ad content to a remote device in response to thefirst physical gesture; detecting at least one second physical gesturewith the mobile device; and manipulating the ad content on the remotedevice in response to the at least one second physical gesture.
 20. Themethod of claim 19 comprising: determining a content display controlcommand associated with the at least one second physical gesture; andcommunicating the display control command to the remote device.